Germany To Announce 23 Men Squad On May 16th

The DFB’s decision to make the announcement from the restaurant at the summit of the Zugspitze, Germany’s tallest mountain, reflects its location on the border with Austria, who of course are Euro 2008’s joint hosts.

“We wanted to give the selection location some geographical significance with Austria and Switzerland, the two nations hosting the event,” said Germany’s team manager Oliver Bierhoff.

The three times European champions have been drawn in Group B with Austria, Poland and Croatia. Loew recently said that around 40 players were still in the running for the coveted 23 spots in the German team.

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Cambiasso Confident Of Getting Past Liverpool

The Nerazzurri lost 2-0 in their last 16 first leg tie at Anfield last week, and face a real uphill struggle in order to qualify for the quarter-finals.

“I am sure that we can do it,” the midfielder told Spanish newspaper AS.

“However, we aren’t deluding ourselves. It will obviously be difficult but we can get back from 2-0 down at San Siro – it’s not impossible.

“We have already won two championships and we have the third on the way, so I don’t think that there is pressure on us. It’s just the will to win the trophy, which is second only to the World Cup in prestige.

“We are a close-knit squad with such outstanding individuals, but in Italian football you need concrete achievements and we need to find the net to get those.”

Inter face another big match this evening when they welcome Roma to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Serie A. The Nerazzurri currently hold a nine-point lead over the second-placed Giallorossi.

When the two teams met at the Stadio Olimpico earlier in the season, Inter ran out convincing 4-1 winners, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Hernan Crespo, Julio Cruz and Ivan Cordoba grabbing the goals.

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Gunners Receive Persie Boost

Arsenal have been boosted by the timely recovery of Dutch striker Robin van Persie from a persistent thigh injury.

Van Persie made another promising start to the season, scoring seven goals before being blighted by a succession of injury problems that began when he was on international duty with Holland in October.

First he injured his knee, then suffered a muscular problem and, when he looked to be recovering from that, the thigh injury was the next set-back.

However, reports suggest that van Persie could be on the Gunners’ bench on Saturday when upwardly mobile Aston Villa visit the Emirates Stradium.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger lost Croatian striker Eduardo to a compound leg fracture during Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Birmingham City. He is expected to be out of action for between nine and twelve months.

The Gunners remain three points clear of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League but cannot afford to drop any more points of a last-minute penalty at St Andrews deprived them of two.

They also take on AC Milan in the second leg of their first knock-out round tie in the Champions League on March 4th at the San Siro, seeking a place in the quarter-finals.

To have a fit van Persie available would be a major boost to the squad.

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=601417

Southgate Does It Wengers Way In Treating Alves

Afonso Alves, Middlesbrough’s £12.7 million signing from Heerenveen, has made a low-key start to his career in English football. The Brazilian has made three appearances as a substitute so far, and has not yet scored.

But Southgate is not concerned about the statistics - with an eye on the longer-term, his priority is to ease the player into his new environment gradually. Southgate is trying to lift any pressure off the striker by telling Boro fans not to expect anything from him until next season.

The Boro manager is basing his approach on Wenger’s coaching style, given that the Arsenal boss has successfully guided players like Robert Pires, Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb through relatively quiet first seasons in The Premier League.

“English football is a lot quicker than what Afonso’s been used to,” Southgate told The Guardian.

“I wouldn’t expect to see the best of Afonso until next season.

“We could still see something very good from him before the summer but, if I throw him in from the start too early, people might think he’s not up to it.

“I look at the way Arsene Wenger gives his new Arsenal players time to settle.”

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=601442

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